Popular pinball games of the prior art generally carry moving features of various types, for example figures with moving arms, moving heads, or the like. Note for example the dinosaur in the Jurassic Park Pinball game or the moving arm in the pinball game featuring Bullwinkle the Moose, sold by The Data East Pinball Company. Typically, the movement of the feature is provided by motors that are controlled by mechanical switches, for example, spring-arm microswitches or the like.
Kaminkow et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,244 shows a pinball machine having a movable feature, specifically a movable dinosaur head, in which the motion is governed and limited by the opening and closing of switches. Lawlor et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,647 discloses a moving head in a pinball machine.
Systems in which the movement is governed by motors controlled by switches must necessarily be rather simple in terms of patterns of the motion. Typically, the motion of the feature is from position a to position b and back again, such as a moving arm or head.
By this invention, a control system for the moving of features is provided which has a quicker response time, better accuracy of motion to a specific position, and has a reduced cost since microswitches or other mechanical switches are not required. Furthermore, the pattern of motion of a head, an arm, or any other desired moveable feature can be complex if desired, movable between a substantial number of positions, for example three to fifty positions. The movement may be of any desired complex pattern as controlled by a microprocessor, so that basically the same system can be used to impose different moving patterns on different features, depending upon the programming in the microprocessor.
As one specific embodiment of the above, a pinball machine may be provided in which a portion of the playfield may be selectively obscured by a moving plate or the like for obscuring a portion of the playfield. Thus, with this disadvantage being applied at times, the pinball machine exhibits a greater challenge for skilled players. This movable obscuring plate may move between two or more desired positions in a manner governed by events taking place in the pinball machine.